A cut and raked crop that has been dried or otherwise prepared in a field, such as hay, straw or other agricultural material is often gathered, compressed and shaped by an agricultural baler. There are several types of balers that are commonly used, each resulting in different types of bales. Some are rectangular and some are cylindrical of various sizes. Bales can be bound with netting, strapping, wire or traditionally twine using a tie system to connect ends of the twine. Large square balers often use a double tie knotting system or double tie knotter. The double tie knotter ties two knots, one to complete the previous bale, and another to start the next or current bale. Twine is then directly fed out of the twine spools during bale formation. A typical large square bale weighs between 800 and 1,600 pounds and is often dropped in the field by the baler, for later retrieval, as the baling system proceeds though the field.
A baler that produces small rectangular bales, often also called square bales, produce bales that are typically wrapped with two strands of knotted twine. The bales are light enough for easy handling and typically weigh from 40 to 80 pounds each. A bale is formed by a series of processes performed by the square baler including lifting the windrowed material, hereinafter referred to as hay, by way of the pickup portion of the baler. The hay is then moved by way of an auger into a chamber that has a feeding fork. The feeding fork moves the hay in front of a sliding plunger with a cutting edge that cuts the hay and moves the hay in the chamber into previously packed hay therein causing the hay to be compressed. Once a predetermined amount of hay has been gathered in the chamber, as measured by the amount being extruded through the opening at the rear of the chamber, a mechanism is triggered causing the twine to be threaded through the hay, cut and then knotted thereby forming the bale and one portion of the twine is retained to start to receive hay for the next bale. As the bales are moved through the compression channel out to the rear of the baler, the baled hay is then often loaded onto a wagon, dropped into the field for later retrieval or moved to a towed bale accumulator.
Round balers rotate gathered crop material until a sufficiently large enough cylinder-shaped “round” or “rolled” bale is formed and that bale is secured with twine or wrapping. The back of the baler swings open, allowing the bale to be discharged. Variable-chamber balers typically produce bales from 48 to 72 inches in diameter and up to approximately 62 inches in width. The bales can weigh from 1,000 to 2,200 pounds, depending upon size, material, and moisture content.
Crop accumulators are known which groups the bales while the baling operation is underway. When the crop accumulator is full, it is common to dump the harvested crop in the location where it is full. For example, a crop accumulator, which looks somewhat like a trailer is connected directly behind the baler and may collect and transports three round bales, allowing groupings of up to four bales at a time (counting the bale in the baler). These type of crop accumulators accumulate the bales in a sequential manner relative to the general direction of travel of the baler. The crop accumulator may have a floor chain system in order to move the bale that it receives from the baler to a sequential position on the accumulator. These crop accumulators may, depending upon the load distribution, produce either an upward or downward force at the connection point of the baler, which thereby imparts a moment or torque on the baler, which can result in an upward force being applied to the hitch of the tractor and thereby cause instability or damage to the baler's hitch.